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alive. I will go and see him before I die. Dear only Father Lord, thank you for this evening. Thank you for all the souls that were saved, and please let us be attentive and hear the things that Pastor Shelley has to say to us. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. The title of the evening sermon is a prepared, excuse me, a prepared place for you. A prepared place for you. Now, something that's very unique about the Bible that really just signifies how it's God's word is the fact that there's so many layers to every single text. Every single text in which we read has an underlying theme of Jesus Christ, and I mean it's so powerful when you read through. And when I read Genesis chapter 45, the parallels in this chapter are kind of mind-blowing when we think about something that it's describing. But if you really get this one thought in your mind, chapter 45 is really special because if you really look at Joseph's life, Joseph is one of the strongest pictures of Jesus in the Bible. There's so many parallels. There's so many great things. And in chapter number 45, it's really signifying a particular event. And what is this event? This is the precursor or the beginning of the millennial reign of Christ. This chapter just hits here and hammers so many great points about that timing, basically Christ coming and setting up his kingdom and some of the great parallels. So, I want to kind of dig through this chapter a little bit and pull out some great truths about this. Now, we would be known as a pre-millennial church. We believe in pre-millennialism. What's pre-millennialism? Pre-millennialism means that we believe that Christ will return before the millennial reign. I've been falsely accused of believing in post-millennialism. No, we don't believe in such a weird nonsense. Obviously, we are in post-trib pre-wrath. But we still believe that Christ's coming, the second coming, is before the millennial reign of Jesus Christ. And this timing here that we're going to be looking at is really when Christ is going to be setting up his kingdom and a lot of things about that. Look at verse 1. It says, then Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that stood by him and he cried, cause every man to go out from them. And there stood no man with them while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren. Now, let me just give you a little backstory. Joseph, he is one of twelve brethren. He's the eleventh of those twelve, okay? And his first ten brethren, which is kind of a mixed family, they're not all the same mother. They have the same father, but they're not all the same mother. They don't like Joseph. They despise Joseph. They didn't like him because his father favored him above all the other brethren. And not only that, he had some dreams. He had dreams come to pass where basically the interpretation is that him's brethren and even the sun and moon would obey him, would bow down to him, which was a picture of his dad, his mom, and even all his brethren would somehow be subject unto him. Now, this was just a dream given to him by God. Because of this, his brethren at first wanted to kill him. Reuben delivers him out of their hand. They throw him into a pit. They end up selling him to the Amalekites. The Amalekites then travel to Egypt, sell him into Egypt. While he's in Egypt, the story is that he is in Potiphar's house. He's a servant. He's faithful, but his wife ends up lying about him. He gets thrown into prison. Then while he's in prison, he still is a faithful steward. He does a lot of good things in the prison. He ends up having a butler in the baker. They have some kind of a dream. He interprets it for him. The baker's killed and the butler gets restored back into Pharaoh. And because of his interpretation of that dream, eventually Pharaoh has a dream and God uses that as his window to restore Joseph. And he becomes the ruler in all the land. Pharaoh makes him the ruler of all of Egypt. He says, only in the throne am I greater than you. And after the seven years of plenty that was in the dream of Pharaoh, there ends up being seven years of famine. Well, in the second year of famine, it's so grievous that his original brethren are come down to Egypt to get corn and they have an interaction with Joseph. And Joseph kind of, he doesn't let on immediately that he knows them. He kind of messes with them and toys with them. He's trying to figure out where their heart is. And there's a lot of parallels we can even learn from there. But at this point in the story, he can no longer refrain himself. That's what verse one's saying. He could no longer conceal the fact that he's actually Joseph. These are my brethren. And he cries unto them. And he says he wants to be known unto his brethren. And there's going to come a point in time where we know Jesus in a lot greater way. We're going to actually see him. Keep your finger and go to first John, chapter number three, first John chapter number three. And we're going to look at a few places, but there's going to be coming a point in time where we know Christ even better than now. And obviously we can know Christ greatly through his word. He is the word of God, but there will be a day when our faith becomes sight and what a glorious day that's going to be. And we sing a lot of songs about that. And in first John chapter three, it says in verse one, behold what manner of love the father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth us not because it knew him not beloved. Now are we the sons of God and it does not yet appear what we shall be. But we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is. So at one point in the future, when Christ returns, we're also going to be caught up together with him. We're going to be changed and we're going to be like him. We're going to put on his likeness. Now don't get a weird idea. We're not going to all look exactly like him. Okay. Some people think we're all going to be these robots or something. Peter Ruckman had this weird idea. We're all going to be 33 year old men in heaven. It was like false doctrine. Okay. Just like all bears are bear like, and just like all dogs are dog like, and just like all mankind is mankind like, we're going to also bear the same image of Christ in the sense that we're going to have a glorified body. We're going to have a glorified state, but sorry to tell you, you're not going to look exactly like him. Okay. He looked exactly like the father. Flip backwards to first Corinthians, chapter 13, first Corinthians chapter number 13. And we're going to see another verse that tells us this. You know, now we don't know everything. We don't see everything. And let me tell you out. I know a few things. I know that Jesus Christ is not black. Okay. I also know that he's not Asian. He's also not snow white. Okay. He was probably middle Eastern looking. Okay. Some level, I'm sure he was somewhat fair skinned, probably more fair skinned than not, but he probably wasn't, you know, just snow white, didn't look German. Okay. He didn't have blonde hair and blue eyes, probably had dark brown hair, you know, but even David was described as being ruddy, having, you know, red flush cheeks. So obviously he was somewhat fair skinned, but you know, he's also probably very attractive looking. Some people have this weird idea that he was ugly or something, but that's not biblical because every single person, his lineage is known as like the most attractive person on the planet. So obviously, you know, that kind of seems to be the trend when everybody in your family is attractive, you're probably more attractive. Okay. But in first Corinthians chapter 13, if it says, look at verse number 11, when I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things. Bible gives a profound truth that, you know, you don't ever, you don't really realize some of the foolish thinking you had as a child, certain events and things that you thought about. When I thought about how my, my, my mom would give birth or things like this as a child, you kind of have weird ideas of what that looks like or how things are going to happen. Then when you become a man, you actually realize what things are like. You don't have these foolish thoughts. He's saying that's what our understanding is like right now. We really, we really can't understand what heaven looks like. Whatever you picture heaven looking like and all these things, it's probably just not anywhere close. Okay. But then once you finally see it, you won't have those foolish thoughts anymore. And he's saying in verse 12, for now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face now I know in part, but then shall I know, even as also I am known. So I think of this, it's kind of like when you go on, you know, online and you're dating somebody and you've only seen their profile picture. Sometimes that's looking through a glass darkly and then you come face to face and it's different. Maybe that's a pleasant surprise. Oftentimes it's the opposite. Okay. In this case, it's going to be a pleasant surprise. All right. But we don't really know exactly what that looks like. We don't, we can't see everything, but there will be a day when Jesus Christ will be known unto us, just like Joseph made himself known unto his brethren. Christ is going to be known unto us. Go back to Genesis 45, Genesis chapter 45. Look at verse two. And he wept aloud and the Egyptians in the house of Pharaoh heard. And Joseph said unto his brethren, I am Joseph, doth my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer him for they were troubled at his presence. And Joseph said unto his brethren, come near to me, I pray you. And they came near and he said, I am Joseph, your brother, whom he sold into Egypt. Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither for God did send me before you to preserve life. Now this is a great truth because if we think about Jesus dying on the cross, from one perspective, our sins sent him to the cross, didn't it? You know, from, from some kind of layer, from some kind of viewpoint, obviously our personal sins put the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. From another perspective, the Jews killed Jesus because the Bible clearly says that they delivered him to be crucified. From another perspective, the Romans, they are the ones that physically did it. They literally were the ones that nailed him to the cross and put him up there. So there's kind of a lot of layers to why he's going to the cross. But the ultimate reason that Jesus went on the cross is because God the father sent him. And Joseph is trying to illustrate a point to them. He's saying, Hey, I know you guys physically threw me in the pit. I know you guys literally pulled me out and handed me to the Malachites and the Malachites drove me down to Egypt and the Egyptians put me in jail. And then they brought me back out. But you know what? It was God that did all of it. It was God that was divinely involved. And he did it for a purpose, for me to prepare a place for you, for me to preserve life. And without Jesus' sacrifice, we would have no life. Now, having a full understanding of the Bible and the joy of the Gospel, we can realize that when we stand before Jesus, we don't have to kind of be like, you know, afraid of the fact that he bought and paid our sins. Like we don't have to be afraid of the fact that we put him on the cross because he's trying to let you know, Hey, I know I went to the cross because of you, but guess what? God's the one that wanted me to do that. So we don't have to be fearful at the sight of Jesus. We don't have to be afraid of him being angry at us because he had to go to the cross for us. He's saying, Hey, God, you don't want me to go to the cross for you. I'll just read a few verses, but it says, For God sent not a son of the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. So now from a perspective of Christ, it was pretty negative to be sent to the world, to have to be suffering shame, to have to be crucified. But the reason why God did that is so that we could be saved. Why did Jesus want to do that? So that we can be saved. Do you think Joseph really enjoyed getting sold into a foreign country and being thrown in prison? Look, none of those things were good, but on the other side of things, he's like, you know what? I'm glad that happened because now I can preserve life. Now, you know, good things didn't happen. And Jesus Christ, the same while he's even on the, in this earth, on the, in flesh, he says that he doesn't want to die on the cross. You know, if there be any other way, let this cup be passed from me. He doesn't want to die on the cross. He doesn't want to have shame. He doesn't want people to spit in his face. He doesn't want to be smote in the face. He doesn't want those things to happen, but he realizes, Hey, this is needful to save life. And that's why he's willing to do it. First John four verse nine says, and this was manifested in the love of God toward us because that God sent his only begotten son in the world that we might live through him here in his love. Not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. So without Jesus Christ dying on the cross, we had no hope. And if God had not sent Joseph down into Egypt, they would have all died. They had no hope. There was no chance of survival without Joseph. That's why God is using this illustration. He's using this example to say, Hey, God meant for me to go into supper and to have all these things happen so that I could preserve this entire earth, preserve this entire area. Look, the whole world is in famine. They all have to come to Egypt. Why did Egypt get so rich? Why do you think they built all those pyramids and had so much money and gold? Because the entire world has no food. You know where they go? They go to Egypt and they buy food. God just raises up Egypt and gives them enormous wealth through the prosperity of Joseph. Now look at verse number six. It says, for these two years hath the famine been the land, and yet there are five years in the which there shall neither be earing nor arvests. And God sent me before you to preserve you of posterity in the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. I mean, it just feels like Jesus talking to me when I'm reading these verses. He's saying, Hey, God sent me to the earth to preserve you with a great deliverance and notice to preserve you of posterity in the earth. Now this is the great thing because obviously if I were to die right now, my soul would go to heaven, but that's not where I'm supposed to live for the eternity. It's actually a short space. We're actually going to still live on the earth. And you know, that's where the Jehovah's false witness, they seemingly have something right. They say, well, I don't want to go to heaven. I want to be on earth. Now they don't understand when they die, they're going to go to hell. So it's not like they have that other option. And they'll quote verses like the meek shall inherit the earth, but that's a true verse. And that's a true saying that, yes, we will inherit the earth. It's just right now we have a great cloud of witnesses. And if you were to die, if you're absent with the body, that's to be present with the Lord. And guess where Jesus is the right hand of the father in heaven. So if we were to die right now, we would be carried up in heaven, but we're supposed to live the rest of our lives on this earth. Albeit it's a new earth and a new heaven. Now go if you would to Genesis chapter 37, Genesis 37. I'll give you a few verses. The Bible says for unto us is born this day in the city of David, a savior, which is Christ the Lord. Matthew 1 21, and Jesus shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. So the purpose of Jesus was to save us. Why is the Bible using such a strong picture of Joseph? Because he pictured Jesus. He pictures what Jesus is going to do for us, the suffering of Jesus. Look, the Old Testament stories are not just there by accident. They're all picturing Jesus Christ. The chapters that are included, the stories that are included, the little nuances, it's all picturing things of what Jesus Christ would come. That's why I get surprised when I think about the walk to Emmaus, when Christ is just pointing out all the Old Testament that pictures him. I'm like, did you just read the whole Testament? How did that work? Because it's like, literally, every single story is just, you know, picturing Jesus Christ. I can't imagine how Jesus would have not brought up Joseph and the fact that he had to be thrown in the pit and the fact that he had to suffer has not a picture that he himself would be one to suffer. Why? To give them a posterity mirror to save their lives. Now, who did he save? Joseph saved his brethren, did he not? Now, what was his brethren like? Well, look at verse number three. Now, Israel loved Joseph more than all children because he was the son of his old age and he made him a coat of many colors. And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him and could not speak peaceably unto him. That's a picture of the Jews. They hated Jesus. They crucified him. But it also, I think another parallel is the fact that we as mankind are not good. If you look at his brethren, they're wicked. They're all lazy. They're all slothful. They don't have a good attitude. They're murderous. I mean, they want to kill. They're envious. I mean, if you read about Judah, this guy's got all kinds of problems. All of his kids are wicked. They get slain before the Lord. Then he goes and lays with a prostitute and it happens to be his daughter-in-law. And it's like, this guy can't tell what's up. These guys are wicked and sinful. You know what? We are wicked and sinful. There's not a just man upon the earth that doeth good and sinneth not. I don't care which one of your brethren you are. We are all wicked. We all deserve great punishment. And that's a picture of his brethren. Hey, they need a savior. Just like we need a savior. Look at verse number 17. It says, And the man said, They are departed hence. For I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan. And Joseph went after his brethren, and found them in Dothan. And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him. And they said one to another, The oldest dreamer cometh. Come now, therefore, and let us slay him and cast him into some pit. And we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams. So look, they want to kill their own brethren. They're wicked. You know what? All of us, before we're saved, are wicked. Go to Ephesians chapter 2. Go to Ephesians chapter 2. I'll read for you in Titus. The Bible says, For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But after that the kindness of love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified by his grace we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. So according to the Bible, we are foolish, we are disobedient, we are deceived, we are envious, we are hateful. Makes me think of his brethren. And the thing about his brethren is they didn't deserve salvation. There was nothing good found in them. Joseph just delivers them anyways. And that's the same thing with Jesus Christ. He just delivers us anyways. We didn't deserve it. It wasn't based on any works of righteousness which we have done. What works of righteousness did his brethren do? None. They were just absolutely horrible. They just hated him. They delivered him. They got rid of him. They lied to their father about it. I mean everything about them was wicked and there was no good found in them. And honestly if we were to look into your heart, the unsaved, unregenerate heart of your flesh, it's wicked. There's nothing good in it. Unfortunately people think that they're a good person. They just don't realize how bad they truly are. If we were to talk to Joseph's brethren, they would have thought, oh we're good guys, yeah. We're of the God of Israel, you know. They're wicked. But we are too. Ephesians chapter 2, verse 1. And you had the quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. Wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace you are saved. Now this is what it's sobering to me about this passage, okay. When I read Genesis and I read about the brethren forsaking Joseph, I kind of just think like, man those guys are wicked. Those guys are so bad. But you know what? He's talking about you. He's talking about me. We're that way. We didn't do anything good to deserve salvation. Christ was just good unto us and blessed us, and that while we're yet sinners, Christ died for us. Even while his brethren were wicked, he still was going to deliver them and preparing a posterity for them. Now go back to Genesis 45. Go back to Genesis 45. Christ still came to save us, even though we're wicked, and we are justified by his grace. Look at verse 8. So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God. And he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. So notice that Joseph is now in charge of everything. He's literally the ruler. Now he's described as the ruler, even though technically speaking, Pharaoh is still above him. Pharaoh is still greater than him in the throne, yet it's whatever Joseph says goes. Now I can't think of a better way to illustrate the Trinity here. I mean, this is like exactly what the Bible teaches with the Son. I mean, the Son is the ruler. He's the King of kings. He's the Lord of lords. I mean, we all are going to bow before him. He's the one that we answer to, okay? He's our Lord. But technically speaking, God the Father is still an authority over the Son. It's both, okay? And no one would question, you know, if we said, hey, Joseph's the ruler. Oh, how many rulers are there? He's the ruler. It's the guy. What happened? Pharaoh has committed all of his authority and trusted it into Joseph. So Joseph is acting on Pharaoh's behalf. The Son acts on the behalf of the Father, okay? Go if you would to 1 Corinthians 15. God has set up his Son. Notice that Joseph doesn't become Pharaoh. It doesn't end and he's like, fake, I'm really Pharaoh. You're like, where'd Pharaoh go? You know, the oneness doctrine is stupid, okay? God is three persons. He's always been three persons. There's only been one God. And of course, there's only one God. Hey, if the Son is the truth, is the Alpha and the Omega, eternally exists, there's no one righteousness in him, how is he not the one God? And if the Father is the Almighty, the Alpha and the Omega, he's the beginning and the end, he's the truth, how is he not God? So obviously, the Father is God. Obviously, the Son is God. Obviously, the Holy Spirit is God. But guess what? There's still the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. These three are one. Now they're one in unity. They're one in purpose. They're one in essence. They're one in everything. They're just not one body. They're not one person. There's three persons. And we see this over and over throughout the Bible, so many different examples. Abraham didn't sacrifice himself on the altar, he put Isaac on there. And every single picture of the Old Testament just makes it super clear, okay? But I wanted to look at another place, First Corinthians chapter 15, because we're going to see kind of the picture of when Christ is ruling. Look at verse 20. But now is Christ risen from the dead and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of death. Now, Christ is known as the firstfruits. Why? Because he's the first resurrection. He already died, was buried and guess what? Rose again. A picture of the fact that we will rise again with him. That's the only thing that gives us hope about us being resurrected. If Christ was still dead in the grave, we have no hope. We have hope in the resurrection. That's why it's so important to believe in the resurrection. If you don't believe in the resurrection, you're not saved. Unsaved. Verse 22. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order, Christ the firstfruits. Afterward, they that are Christ, notice this, at his coming. So when will we be resurrected? At Christ's coming. Although First Thessalonians chapter four does say there'll be some which are alive and remain under the coming of the Lord and they shall not prevent them which sleep in Jesus. So Christ is going to bring with them all those that are asleep and those that are alive and remain are to be caught up together. And we're all going to be united one in the air and say, where Lord? Where are the Eagles? Eagles are gathered. I don't know where that is, but it sounds cool. It's like our version of getting to fly. I don't know what that looks like, but you know, the Bible does say, Matthew 24, the angels are going to carry us. Okay, so don't, I don't want to get your hopes up. All right. But it's kind of like flying. Okay, I'm going to count it as flying, right? It says in verse 24, then cometh the end when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the father, when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power for he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that should be destroyed is death. Notice the Bible's making it very clear that Christ has to reign. There's so many prophecies about Christ reigning. Let me tell you, his first coming was not about reigning. It's about ministering. He came not to be ministered unto, but to minister. He came to give his life a ransom for many, but his second coming, it's different. He's going to be reigning with a rod of iron. It's going to be a lot different. He's going to put down all authority, all power. This sounds great. I mean, he is going to be the boss of everything. Right now, the God of this world is deceiving them. And he's blinding the minds of them which believe not. He's going around and he's on a short leash, but he's still able to do a lot of wicked stuff. It's going to be at some point, Christ is the one ruling and reigning on this earth. And that's going to be a great day. And he's going to notice this, destroy the last enemy, which is death. It says in verse 27, for he hath put all things under his feet, but when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is accepted, which did put all things under him. Now, how can you be one person and you're like putting stuff under yourself while you're like under it. And you're like, I mean, no, there was a person that put things under him. And then there's the person that the things were put under. And it's saying, hey, Christ is the supreme ruler. He's in charge of everything. But for all you oneness devils, it's just obvious that God, the father is accepted here. Okay. God, the father is still in charge, just like with Joseph. If they said who's in charge here, Joseph. And they're like, I thought, Pharaoh. Well, it's obvious that Pharaoh is technically in charge. But if we're going to ask who's making all the decisions, who, who's the one that's giving all the commands. It's Joseph. He didn't have to check with Pharaoh. He wasn't like, is that okay? Pharaoh. No, he's telling Pharaoh what to do. Even now, obviously Jesus is not going to be telling the father what to do. Okay. But in the earthly illustration, it said that Joseph was a father and a Pharaoh. He was the one instructing Pharaoh. Pharaoh's like, you're smarter than me. You're wiser than me. So I'm going to make sure that you're just in charge. You got it. Whatever you say goes. And technically the only way to be a conflict is something with the throne. Now, when it comes to Jesus and the father, they're one, they're one, you know, they, they have the same goals. They have the same vision. Obviously Christ is still subject unto the father in all ways. And there will be a point in time, which it says that he's going to deliver. He's going to deliver up the kingdom and God is going to be all in all. And that's, you know, when we look in Revelation, that's after the millennial reign. Okay. We're kind of still focusing on the second coming and the millennial reign here, but go, if you would, to Genesis 41 now, Genesis chapter 41. I just want to get that picture really clearly in your mind because I mean, it's just so powerful when we're reading Genesis chapter 45. I mean, it's just like parallel after parallel, all this different illustration and imagery that pictures so many great doctrines from the Bible. And really that's why it's important to just keep reading your Bible over and over because the first time you read Genesis 45, you're not going to think of any of these things. No one is. I'm not, you're not. Then the second time through, maybe you might catch something or you catch so many more things. The more times you read through the Bible and things just stick off the page. That's why we're going through the book of Genesis. And then usually when someone points it out, it's like, you see it for the rest of your life. I mean, you're just like, wow, how did I not see that? That was so clear. It's just so obvious kind of like salvation. You know, so many people, they can quote John three 16. They don't even believe it, but then once they got it, they got it. Look at Genesis 41 verse 41. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, see, I've set the overall land of Egypt. And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand and put it upon Joseph's hand and arrayed him investors of Finland and put a gold chain about his neck. And he made him to ride in the second chariot, and they cried before him bow the knee. And he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I am Pharaoh. And without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot and all the land of Egypt. Again, overemphasizing what God, the father is going to do the son, giving him all power and all glory that every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the father period. Go to Psalms chapter two now, Psalms chapter number two. So just like Joseph gets this great honor and prestige, it's picturing what Christ is going to do. You don't think that we could write a thousand books about things that Joseph did in his life. We could. Why is the Bible highlighting certain events? Because they're all picturing things about Christ. They're all picturing future prophecies of prophetic significance. Nothing in the Bible is accidental, coincidental. Just I was just throwing a few verses here just to finish. We needed a few more. No, it's all there by great significance. And a lot of times I'm even reading and I'm like, there's something significant about that, but I have no idea what it is. But it just sticks in my mind. And then later, maybe reading again or some other time, the Holy Ghost, when you compare spiritual to spiritual, show you even greater things. Psalm chapter two, look at verse six. Yet if I set my King upon my Holy Hill of Zion, I will declare the decree. The Lord has sent me thou art my son. This day have I begotten thee. Ask of me and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron. Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a Potter's vessel. Notice he's going to come and he's going to rule of power and authority. Whatever he says goes. And I mean, you can just beat the oneness guys up with these verses all day long. I mean, hey, can I have the inheritance? Yes, you can. I mean, it's just it's just stupid. It's like, what's going on here? Go back to Genesis forty five. Isaiah nine six, the really famous verses about Jesus Christ and him coming and ruling. I'll just read for you front as a child was born and was a son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name should be called wonderful counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting father, the prince of peace of the increase of his government and peace. There should be no end upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth, even forever, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will reform this. Now, some might ask, why right after the resurrection will we not just enter in the millennial reign of Christ? I mean, why not just immediately go into Christ ruling and reign? Why allow the devil to keep doing his thing and all this stuff? Let me tell you why. Because of you, he said, other sheep have eye of another fold and he wants to bring them in until the fullness of the gentiles become in. God wanted to get more people saved. God wants to bring more people into the truth and the gospel to go out. He wants his earth to be inhabited with tons of people for us to go and to preach the gospel. And that's great news. He could have gone straight into the millennial reign if he wanted. He could do whatever he wants. He could have killed Adam and Eve and second they ate that tree and just started over. But everything he's doing is on purpose. And the fact that he's delaying his coming is so that more people will be saved. So we ought not be neglectful and going out and preaching the gospel. That's the whole purpose of him tearing is so that we can get more people saved. So the gospel can go out to the entire world. When you read Matthew 24, he says, when's going to be the end? When the gospel goes out into all the world, then come at the end. So that's the point. That's the purpose. Look at verse nine, hasty and go up to my father and say in him, thus saith my son, Joseph, God has made me Lord of all Egypt. Come down on me, Terry, not. And now shall dwell in the land of Goshen and now shall be near unto me now and my children, my children's children and my flocks and my herds and all that thou has. And there will I nourish thee for yet there are five years of famine, lest thou and thy household and all that thou hast come to poverty. And behold, your eyes see in the eyes of my brother Benjamin that it is my mouth that speaketh unto you. And you shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt and of all you have seen. And you shall haste and bring down my father hither. So notice Joseph, once he's discovered with his brethren, he's not going to go back and live with them. He's not going to go back and hang out with them. They're all going to go come and live with him. And notice, hey, we're going to all go and live with Jesus. We're going to all go and be where he is. And he's prepared a place for us. He's prepared a posterity for us. It's not where we're at. Look, the things that we're building on this earthly tabernacle are vanity. They're vain. It doesn't matter. Christ is going to set up a new heaven and a new earth, a spiritual kingdom. And that's the place that's prepared for us. Go to Matthew 26. In John 14, Jesus said, in my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you. Jesus said unto his disciples, hey, I'm going to go and set up a place for you. Just like Joseph went down to Egypt and had set up a place for his brethren to come down and to live with them. He says, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am, there you may be also. It's great that once Christ comes again, we'll ever be with him. We'll never have that separation again. Luke 22 says, ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations and I appoint unto a kingdom as my father has appointed unto me, that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel. Christ told his disciples that, hey, when I get in my kingdom, you guys are going to get to rule and reign with me in my kingdom. You're going to be set up. You're going to be 12, you know, judges and notice they're going to be eating and drinking. You say, hey, what do you, what is all this that you're talking about? Well, the disciples, they get to rule and reign. They get to eat and drink and be married and have fun. That sounds great. And I bet the meals that Christ serve are better than Chick-fil-A. Sorry to burst your bubble. I know that that's like the Christian paradise, but and I like it. OK, I'm not down on Chick-fil-A, but, you know, I doesn't care what earthly meal it is. I'm sure it's way better. And it's better because there's no envy and strife also. OK, there's a lot of people who go to Chick-fil-A. It's busy. All right. Matthew 26, verse 27, not only the disciples get this, he says in verse 27, he took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them, saying, drink ye all of it. For this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many per mission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my father's kingdom. So notice, hey, what are we going to be doing in the in the kingdom? Well, we get to eat and drink with Jesus. That sounds pretty great. Some people are like, I don't want to just be floating on a cloud playing a harp. And it's like, OK, well, look, there is some people that play on harps and sing the song of Moses in the Bible. I'm not going to downplay that. Look, it's not like that's just what you do the rest of your life. OK, there's eating and drinking. That sounds great. That sounds wonderful. Go to Isaiah 65. Let's find some other things. He said there's mansions. There's mansions. He says he's preparing a place for us. He said that we're going to be eating and drinking in his kingdom. It's basically what every, you know, Democrat socialist wants on Earth now. World peace for every man to have his own house and his own fig tree. And you just eat and drink and be merry. And there's no problems and there's no rules, you know, even though they want lots of rules. OK, they want to accomplish by human means. It's never going to happen, frankly speaking, because they don't actually want that. They just want to control and manipulate people and lie to them and steal from them. OK, Christ is actually going to set that up. And it comes through rules. Just let me know, OK, through strong rule and authority. Isaiah 65, look at verse one. I am sad of them that asked not for me. I am found of them that sought me not. I said, behold me, behold me unto a nation that was not called by my name. I spread out my hands all the day unto rebellious people which walked in a way that was not good after their own thoughts of people that provoked me to anger continually in my face that sacrifices and gardens and burn of incense upon altars of brick. Now, if you have a little bit of Romans memorized, you might be thinking like this is triggering some thoughts. My name Isaiah is very bold and sayeth I was found of them that sought me not. I was made manifest under them that asked not after me. What is he saying? Well, this is where it's getting quoted from, essentially. But what he's trying to say is, look, the people that are actually going to the kingdom that are actually going to get saved is a nation of Gentiles. It's people that aren't a people. They weren't a people. They're not even called by his name. At the time of Christ, the modern day, not modern day, but their Asia, OK, modern day Turkey was not known by Jesus, was not known by God. It's a bunch of pagan idolaters. OK, they're worshiping Zeus and who knows what? I mean, they have an altar of the unknown God. OK, great is Diana of the Ephesians. You know, they're worshiping Diana and and they're worshiping all these fake gods. But they're the ones that are going to get saved. They're the ones that are going to go into the kingdom and be with God. And that's the point that he's preaching here. Isaiah, he's saying, look, all you guys are going to be rejected. It's going to be one of these foolish nations. That's why it was bold and saying that what he was preaching is just saying all of your rejected, all of you hate God. You're all going to hell. And these people that you despise, they're going to all enter in the kingdom. It's like, what in the world? And he was preaching about us. He's preaching about the Gentiles. Now, let's skip for for sake of time. Let's go down to verse 19. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem and joy in my people and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not fulfilled his days for the child shall die and hundred years old. But the sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed and they shall notice this, build houses and inhabit them. And they shall plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build in another inhabit. They should not plant in another eat. Whereas the days of a tree are the days of my people and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. So he's saying, hey, in the millennial reign of Christ, you're going to actually get to build your house and live in it. You know, and I don't think the contractors are as bad back there. You know, I don't know if you do it yourself or how it works out, but I'm sure, you know, it's a lot better. And not only that you get to inhabit it, you get to, you get to plant a vineyard, you get to eat the fruit of your own hands. There's nobody coming in and stealing from you and robbing from you and defrauding you and taking advantage of you. It's just great. Today there's so much thievery and just deceit and fraud and just, it's just, it's terrible. This is going to be a house prepared for us by God. I mean, he says, Hey, I've got a lot of mansions where I'm at. Go to Revelation chapter 20, go to Revelation chapter 20. So we're just getting a sneak peek at what it's going to look like, but here's another sneak peek. They got to go live in Egypt and guess what? Egypt was great back then. It was beautiful. And obviously during the famine, it might be a little rough, but I'm just saying in generally speaking, it's a beautiful area. It's a wonderful place. They get to inhabit in Goshen, which is considered one of the greatest land areas where they get to raise their cattle and have joy. And that's a picture of what it's going to be like for us with Christ. We're going to get to inherit the earth. Now, Revelation chapter 20, verse four. And I saw thrones and they sat upon them and judgment was given unto them. And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God, and which had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years, but the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection, blessed and holy as he that hath part in the first resurrection on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years. So notice all those that are saved, they will be resurrected at Christ's coming. And in a short space after that, we're going to all be ruling and reign with him on this earth for a thousand years. And we're going to be priests of God. We're going to be priests of Christ. I mean, it's going to be a great time of fellowship, of enjoying the fruit of our hands. I mean, it's just going to be wonderful. Just like it was with Joseph, go back to Genesis chapter 45 and we get to reign with him. Now I think the underlying tone though, when we start thinking about these concepts and we start asking these questions, he's like, well, who gets a mansion? Maybe that's my thought. All right. Who gets the mansion? You know, how is this going to work with the ruling and reigning? Well, that's where works come in. You know, if you want to accuse us, they're like, Oh, so you're saying you can just live however you want. Well, yeah. If you want to be in a shack and I'm just going to, I don't know what they have. Hey, do you want a mansion? I mean, Hey, you think about your house. Now you get like a 30 year mortgage maybe. And most people only live in their homes about seven years anyways. They don't usually stay there that long, but we're talking about for a lot longer, thousand years, and then you're going to enter into eternity. Okay. I want that house to be nice. I want it to be good, you know, and obviously living in a nice house here, that's fine. I'm not against that. We might as well, you know, be a good steward of everything we have, but I'd rather instead of, you know, lay in an extra layer of good stuff in my house here, laying good stuff in my house there, replacing the flooring up there, getting new windows up there, add on up there. You know what I mean? Basement too, you know, whatever. I'll take it all. And you know, rewards is not a bad motivator for serving God. Okay. God uses rewards to be something that we should, should motivate us because frankly speaking, you can't go to hell. From an eternal perspective, there is only a carrot out there. There is no stick. The only stick is going to be the fact that when you stand before Christ and you're judged, it's going to, you're going to suffer loss. You might cry in that moment, but afterwards, it's just going to be joy and you're going to get inherit. And so it's just talking about reward system. Look at verse 14. And he fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck and wept and Benjamin wept upon his neck. Moreover, he kissed all his brethren and wept upon them. And after that, his brethren talked with them. And the fame thereof was heard in Pharaoh's house saying, Joseph's brethren are come and it pleased Pharaoh well and his servants. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, say unto thy brethren, this do ye, lay your beast and go get you under the land of Canaan and take your father in your household and come unto me. And I will give you the good of the land of Egypt and you shall eat the fat of the land. Now thou art commanded this do ye take you wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives and bring your father and come. I love this verse. Also regard not your stuff for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours. And the children of Israel did so and Joseph gave them wagons according to the commandment of Pharaoh and gave them provision for the way to all of them. He gave each man changes of raiment, but to Benjamin he gave 300 pieces of silver and five chains of raiment. And to his father, he sent after this man her ten asses laden with the good things of Egypt and ten she-asses laden with corn and bread and meat for his father, by the way. Now here's the thing. Let's think about this, okay? What is happening? Well, Joseph is saying we have so much good stuff here. Everything here is better. Don't bring any of your stuff. Just come on down. It's going to be great. It's going to be better. Now how do we articulate this in a spiritual way? Let me help you out. You're not going to take any of this stuff in this life with you into heaven. Christ is like it's all better up there. People want to just lay up treasure on earth instead of laying up treasure in heaven. The reality is you can't take it with you. The car isn't coming. The clothes aren't going to make it. All your jewelry, all your bank accounts, all your homes, all your boats, everything matters none. You say, hey, what should we have been doing the last few years in this famine? Well, let's just keep laying up stuff here. Well, guess what? In a few years you're going to forsake it all and go to Egypt. It doesn't even matter. It's all vanity. It's meaningless. It has no value. It's of no eternal consequence. And that's such a great feeling knowing, hey, I don't have to keep my truck forever. I like my truck today. But whatever it is, don't regard your stuff. You can preach a whole sermon on that point. Stop regarding all your stuff today. Why don't you start focusing on eternal things? Why don't you start focusing on the work of God? Why don't you start building that house in heaven? Look, there's a prepared place for you. That's where you're going to spend all of eternity with Christ. Why are you so concerned with your stuff? It's junk. I don't even know what it is. It's junk, comparative. It's all junk. It's all going to perish. It's all going to, you know, corrupt and moth and rust. I mean, just everything is perishable. It's all going to burn up one day. Stop regarding all your stuff. Go to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. And notice in chapter 20, or verse 22, he had said, he gave all his brethren changes of raiment. You know what that is? That's salvation, all right? Putting on, he's going to put on his robe of righteousness upon you. So they're all saved. But Benjamin, he also gets 300 pieces of silver and five changes of raiment. Can you just live however you want to go to heaven? Yep. Even Judah got a garment. And Judah's like the guy that wants to kill him. He's still got a garment. But you know what? Benjamin also got some money. You know why? Because Benjamin didn't try to betray his brother. Because Benjamin didn't throw him in the pit. Because Benjamin, I don't even think Benjamin was born. That's my personal opinion. But Benjamin is a picture of those that actually love God and serve God and do the righteous things. Guess what? They're not going to get a change of raiment only. They're also going to get a crown of righteousness. They're also going to get greatly rewarded for the things that they did on this earth. 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 1. We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God and house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan earnestly, desiring to be clothed upon their house which is from heaven. If so be that being clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan being burdened. Not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labor, that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. Now what's being said in this chapter? First of all, he's using kind of house, but it's kind of a parable or a symbol of your physical body, of the fact that right now we're in this physical body. That's like our home. Your soul and your spirit can't get outside your body unless you die. Okay, so right now while we're alive and present, that's your home, this body that God gave you. But we want to be clothed upon by immortality. And once we're resurrected, we're going to put on that immortal flesh, that immortal body, that's going to be completely different. And he's saying, well, it's still important though, when we labor, whether we're present or absent, that we can be accepted of him. Because here's the truth, whenever the brethren stood before Joseph, they didn't feel accepted. Benjamin felt accepted. Oh great, it's Joseph, that guy they've been telling me about. He's wonderful. He's accepted. He gets five times the mess of food than all the other brethren. He gets 300 pieces of silver. He gets all the extra goodies. Why? Because he's going to be accepted of Christ. Not every Christian is going to be accepted at that time. Christ isn't going to be pleased with every single Christian. Let me just wake you up to this fact. Look at verse 10. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in his body, according that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Therefore, knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. But we are made manifest unto God, and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences. Look, some people, Christ is going to be ashamed of them when he comes. Let me just read you a couple of verses. Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. And that's not in the context of salvation. 1 John 2 says, and now little children abide in him, that when he shall appear, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born of him. Do you want to be caught when Christ comes just playing Xbox and living it up and just only the cares of this world? Or do you want to be caught, you know, giving some of the gospel or, you know, caught being in church, caught reading your Bible? You're going to be ashamed when you've been ashamed of Christ your whole life. Now, obviously, I'm not teaching that you will go to hell. We're saved by grace, okay? But the Bible makes it clear we will stand before the judgment seat of Christ. And you will be ashamed when every single one of your works burns up and it was all bad. There was nothing good. You're going to suffer loss is what the Bible says. Go ahead to John chapter 17, John chapter 17. Go to John 17 and Revelation 5, last place, two places of your turn. 1 Corinthians 3 says, every man's work shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is if any man's work abide which you have built thereupon he shall receive reward and if any man's work shall be burned he shall suffer loss but he himself shall be saved yet so as by fire. So even if you are the worst Christian on the planet and your name's Lot, you still get into heaven, okay? I've never met a person named Lot. I hope I don't, okay? You kind of like don't like your kids if you call them Lot or Ichabod, okay? Don't name your kid either of these things, all right? Ichabod Crane. Now let me give you some positive from this, okay? This without a shadow of doubt makes it clear you can never lose a reward that you've already earned. It's impossible. Why? If all my bad works are going to be judged, guess what? All of my good works are going to be judged too. Every soul that I've ever gotten saved out soul winning, I'm still going to get rewarded for it, period. I don't care what you do. Now here is some truth. You could be on your way towards a reward and end up falling short and losing out on receiving that full reward or claiming prize to the award you're working towards but every word you've earned, it's in the bank. It's collecting interest. I mean there's no problems there, okay? So that also tells me, you know what? Every soul winning time you ever went to, you're not going to be disappointed that you went to it. You will never be disappointed for serving God at any point in your life. You're going to only be disappointed for all the times you didn't serve Him, for all the bad, for all the worthless, all the wood, hay, and stubble that just constantly burned up. You're like, couldn't I have just shoved a little bit more diamond in there or a little bit more gold, some rubies? I mean why did I have so much hay and just so much wood in my life? You know the Bible says in Revelation 1, And he hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father. To him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. And when we think about this city and this area, look, there's tons of people that are saved. There's thousands and thousands of Christians in the Dallas-Whoreworth area. There's tons of people that are saved. We're getting thousands of people saved constantly and you say, where are they at? Laying up wood, hay, and stubble, being ashamed of Christ and His words. And you know what? They're going to be ashamed at the judgment seat of Christ. Don't think that you're laboring in vain. Don't think that you should faint and be like them because you are going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ. I don't care. If you're saved, you're going to stand before the judgment seat. And if you're not, I'm not going to talk about there's another place prepared for you. Okay. You don't want that place. Look at John 17 verse 10. And all mine are thine and thine are mine, and I'm glorified in them. And now I'm no more in the world, but these are in the world. And I come to the Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one as we are. Oneness. No, just kidding. Verse 12. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name. Those that thou gave us me I have kept, and none of them is lost but the son of perdition that the scripture might be fulfilled. Look, Christ has prepared a place for us, and none of us is going to be lost. We're all going to go. We're all going to inherit. We're all going to get the new change of clothes. And then some of us are going to be ashamed, and some of us are going to be rewarded greatly. Revelation chapter five. Look at verse six. Revelation chapter five. Look at verse number six. There's a place prepared for you. If you would just think about that place more often, it'd probably motivate you to do the right thing. Probably motivate you to be more heavenly minded. And when we think about the fact that for eternity, for eternity, forever, for all time, you're going to be there. Work on that place. Build that place. Think about that place. Don't think about your stuff. Forget about your stuff. Who cares about, regard not your stuff. Revelation five verse six. Can I be held alone in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders stood a lamb, as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and the four and 20 elders fell down before the lamb, having every one of them harps. All right, see there's the harps. All right. And golden vials full of olders, which are the prayers of saints. And they sung a new song saying thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof for thou was slain and has redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation. Just like Joseph is going to redeem all these people and help them. You know that Christ has redeemed us. Says in verse 10 and has made us under our God kings and priests and we shall reign on the earth. And I beheld and heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beast and the elders. And the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of thousands. Saying with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea and all that are in them heard I saying blessing and honor and glory and power be unto him that said it upon the throne and under the lamb forever and ever. And the four beast said amen and the four and 20 elders fell down and worshiped him that liveth forever and ever. Look when Joseph came and was the ruler of all the land he got a lot of honor and glory. It's nothing to compare what we're gonna give to Jesus. And notice this is not just an animal up there they're worshiping okay. This is the Lord Jesus Christ, the lamb of God, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world. We see that there's the one sitting on the throne that's God the father and we have the lamb which has redeemed us. And you know what he's going to prepare a place for us so that we can reign on the earth with him. There's a place prepared for you. I think everybody in this room is saved hopefully if you're not you need to get saved and then he's going to prepare a place for you. And then after that we need to think about that place and not regard our stuff here on earth. Let's close in prayer. Thank you father so much for your word. Thank you for this great chapter. Thank you for giving us so much symbolism. Thank you for the blood of your son the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for redeeming us to God the father for you know restoring us for delivering us with such a great deliverance. I pray that we would just be focused on spending time with you on the place that you have prepared for us of us giving.